Shelf operating device



july 28, 1936- J. WERTZHEISER SHELF OPERATING DEVICE Filed Feb. 7, 1934 4free/Vins Patented July 28, 1936 y N UNITEDv STATES orERA'rING DEVICE Joseph Wertzheiser, Newark, N. J.

Application lreimiaxfy` 7, 1934, seriarNo. 710,080

@comme (c1. 12s-34o) "This Vinvention relates, to shelf operating devices and particularly to devices whereby one or more shelves will be automatically :withdrawn from an enclosed compartment such as an oven, :.5 Acabinet or` the like, when the. door is moved from closed to open position, and in which the shelves A will also be movedvfto positionfwithirr the enclosed compartment when the door Iis moved to closed position. In the.. present' application, the

lo invention has been embodied in an ovenfor gas and similar stoves, but is tov be understood-.that jitis `not to be limited to such use and that` `it may be adapted .to any typeof enclosedcabinet ",havingA sliding shelves and' a swinging door It is an object of the `present inventionv to pro- Yvide Va new and novel means whereby-one or rmore of the shelves of an oven-o1;-V other enclosed .compartment maybe moved to a positionout of Q9 l,the oven. by movement ofthedoor-,of 4the oven to its open or partially openA position, thereby to Yexpose, to view and to .render accessibleipots, pansl and similar vessels carried bythe-shelves and. in which cooking operations are being car- 5 ried,out. y

i IamL aware that such devices, broadly `speak- `ing, are not. new. However, all such devices with which Ifam. familiar, consist of j intricate'arrangements of connected links, levers, Vor-fgears :3'0 .which arepermanently connected to'the door of the oven and to the shelves to be operated and ido not.- permit of ready removalof the shelves fromrthewoven, or their use at different heights within the oven, e

35 vA feature ofthe present invention resides -in a novel -mechanism wherebyupon. movement of an ov-en, door to partially openposition, the shelves v of an oven will be moved forwardly of the-oven Lto project therefrom, a distance depending upon A40 ,the extent of opening of the door.V Y

-Another feature of the-invention resides in a novel construction whereby when the oven'door is'moved to its fullopen position, thefshelf v operating means will not prevent freeandeasy j removal of the shelves from'pthe oven if desired. f "In certain ovens, particularly those of gas and oil stoves, the shelves'are capable of adjustment "to different levels within the ovenV and Vit-is a furtherfeature of this invention to provide a novel Vconstruction and arrangement of" parts whereby the shelves of the oven may be adjusted -to any of the Vlevels provided for them` and at the same time be subject vto operation by the oven door'and'this without change or adjustment in any manner of the shelf operating The shelves of ovens have adecided tendency to. sag when they project from the oven', particularly when there is a weight supported thereon and it sometimes happens that the shelves will sag to such an extent that articles supported upon the shelves will slide thereon, causing seri'- ous damage. It is a further feature of this invention to provide a novel construction wherelo `byWhen the door is in "a partially open position, the shelf or shelves will be SuDDOtedagainst sagging to such an extent at least', th'atarticles supported upon the shelf will -n ot slide therefrom.

Other features of the invention relate 'to cerl 5 "tainnovel and improved constructions andarrangements of parts hereinafter 'described and particularly pointed' out inthe claims,y the advantages of which will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled `in the' art;v ,20 The invention will beiclear'ly und'erstoodfrom i the accompanying drawing lillustrating the invention in ts preferred form, and thefollowing detailed description of the construction therein shown.

'In the drawing vIl'l'igure 1 is a 'fragmentary vertical sectional Vview of an oven 'illustrating' the shelves, shelf taken on the line 3 3. of Figure-1, and;

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of'theshelf V engaging and operating means In the accompanying drawing, the: 'oven' is 40 designated A, the door being designated B. The oven and door may be yof any desired construction or type, I having merely selected the `type herein shown for the purpose of illustrating my invention. Y,

Ovens for gas stoves as generallyconstructed have two shelves and three sets of shelflsupports 0r guides in order that articles to be cooked in the oven maybe positioned at diferentrheights f therein to obtain the best resultsl in cooking; In 5 0 the conventional oven, the two upper sets ofr lshelf supports consist of 4two guides eachgthe lower shelf support consisting of Ybut -one guide.

In the drawing herewith, the upper ,shelf support is designated C and` will be seen tocom- 5 5 angles .to the doorlas best illustrated prisetwo shelf supporting guides I0, and II, the intermediate shelf support being designated D,

Vand comprising two shelf supporting guides I2,

bars being constructed from relatively stiff wire. Such a construction provides an openfstruture, in which the side of the shelf whiohfis "adjacent"A the oven opening is free for engagementby's'it- 3f' able means for moving orsliding tneghelyesfm their Supporting guides. i

In the present embodiment of the-invention,ji

IV have. illustrated three shelf operating means, there being one foreach'set of shelf supports. The upper shelf operating means is designated F, the intermediate shelf operatingk Y mealr'isA G, and the lower shelf voperating means H," The several shelf operatingrmeansall .being of substantially 'th-esamel construction, I .will describe but one.

' Byreference to Figure/l, it will beapparent that each shelf operating 'means /consist's'- of two arms 20, and 2l, which are spaced from', each other tdprovide an intervening space 22,v VThe Yinner er1-adjacent edges kof `the arms ,are curved Aas at 2.3, and 24. The arcswon whichl these vcurves are struck' are Asuchdthat the space-,'22, between the armsV 20, and2I, becomes narrower 4rinwthe direction of the base o f'the arms, thespacebetween the arms-being widest/at the outer ends thereof. f I .m,

These shelf operating means `=are, as .before stated, arranged in groups of threegeachpandhare secured in any desired mannervtozthe. rearor inner faceof the door B, and vwhileone?grot-ip Yof shelf operatingmeans mayg-iwellserve the purpose, I prefer to employ two sets yanc .soar range them that there is one set vpfisitioned Vat each side of the door, as illustrated inFigure 2.

In forming'the shelfv operatingrmeans, 'I prefer to strike each -group ofrthree fromg'a singlefpiece of sheet metal and` to lprovidef,foryattachment of each group of shelf operating, means tothe door, I provide each vgroup with a flange, which may be provided by bending the body;,port-ion thereof along 'a line designated 3I. v"Iheiiange 30, may be provided withf.openings32, forV the reception'of bolts,`rivets `or'the like 33',=.which also pass through openings in the innenpanel' 34, of the .door.B',`and through openings 351, in a backing stripel:V "Bythis construction-.land arrangement of parts, the shelf operating means maybe rigidly secured to the rear pan'elxofethe door B, in such a manneras to project rearwardly therefromv-intothe ovenat substantially right in Figures 1 and 3, of the drawing.

The device. operates in the followingl-mariner.

YThe shelf.y operating means are .so positioned rupon therear faceof the door-thajt'when the door is in its fully c1osed 'positi^on,A the inner end `of thespace 22, betweenthev arms 20,' andj2|, in the case of theshelf operatingmeans vRand'G,

Will- `be at substantially the sameflev-el as the lower guide of theshelf supports lC;and D, the

rinner endof'the space between-the11arms off. the

shelf i operating meansr H, coinciding-` with "the lower yshelf supporting guide E,fas illustrated at 30, in Figure 1. Therefore, when theV dooris in its closed position, a shelf mounted upon any. of the guides of the shelf supporting means will.

have that member of its frame I6, which is 5 llocated at the front of the enclosure, positioned in the space between the arms of the shelf .operiating means correspondingto the shelf supporting means upon which the shelf is supported.

l",Withthe, parts inthis position, as the door 10 is moved to the partially open position illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1, the curved edge 24, of each arm 2|, will engage th-e forward frameV lI'nernber of a shelf mounted on the shelf sup v.tion-shown in dotted lines inV Figure 1.Y Upon A, movement of the door to the full open position,

"'-the' shelf orV shelves will be moved still further out of the oven, but the several arms 20,'an'd 2| are of such lengthl that ythe shelf operatingzo mean'sfwill 'becomendisengaged from the shelves before they yare completely removed from vthe :ovenffAThis yfull open position of the dooris illustrated in dot andfdash lines in Figure 1.

When the.` door is moved to the Apartially open 25 position,-the shelves will be withdrawn from the oven sufficiently far to permitV of inspectionV of any. varticles'which may befmounted thereon, while movement of the door to the full open positionV will permit of ready removal of an article carried` 30 lby shelves. It will also be apparent that when -the'doorl-is `in its full vopen position, .the shelves frnay be readilykremoved from the oven, the arms `VVof the-shelffoperating means being so constructed Vand arranged that the shelves may be removed 35 without "interfering therewith.

g- Upon 'movement or the doorlto its closed po'sist io'nyftheA ,f orward'member :of the frame of each Ishelf which-may begsupported uponV the guides of "tlie'fshelf supports, will pass into the space between 40 Y the/arms 'ofnts corresponding shelf operating rneans.- Upon continued movement of the door` -toitsclosed position, ,the curved edge 23, of Veach lof thearms- 20,5wil1 vengage the forward member of the frame, I6, of each shelf which may be 45 fmounted in'the oven and will, upon movement of the door 13 tolfull closed position, move the shelves `to position within the oven as shown in full lines Vinlgure 1"." 5 4 f From the foregoing', it will beapparent that the 50 `construction and arrangement of parts herein set forth provides 'a novel and Yeffective device by which one or more shelves of an enclosed com,-

partment may be automatically withdrawn from andreturne'd to position within the compartment L upon opening and closing respectively of the door jofjthe compartrnent. Furthermore, the mechanismfisQof simple' constructionv and sofarranged that permanent or xed connections between the door and shelves 'are wholly vdispensed with, 60

thereby lpern'zn'tting of adjustment and operation ""of shelves to'diiferen't heights within .the oven, .orV the complte removal of any or all of the shelves nwithout the necessity of Vremoving any parts.V

While the inventionl has beenherein illustrated in its preferred form, it is to be understoodY that Vit is not limited tor the specific construction and "arrangementof parts herein shown and described, andthat itmay be practiced in such other forms as rightfully fall within the scope of the appended Y v'ports' and move the shelf or shelves to the posi- 15 1. The combination with an oven having a sliding shelf therein, a door for closing said oven, and means carried by said door for engagement with said shelf for moving the same outwardly of the oven upon movement of the door to open position, said means comprising brackets mounted upon the door, and arms projecting from said brackets and arranged in vertically spaced pairs between which a portion of the shelf is positioned, one of the arms engaging the shelf to pull the latter outwardly during opening movement of the door and the other arm engaging the shelf to push the same inwardly during closing movement of the door, said shelf being gradually disengaged from the arms as the door approaches its open position.

2. The combination with an oven having a shelf slidably mounted therein, a swinging door for the oven, and a pair of vertically spaced arms carried by and projecting from the inner face of the door. said arms being curved upwardly and inwardly 5 of the oven to receive a portion of the shelf, one of the arms engaging the shelf to pull the latter outwardly during opening movement of the door and the other arm engaging the shelf to push the lo same inwardly during the closing movement of the door, said arms being gradually disengaged from the shelf as the door approaches its open position.

JOSEPH WERTZHEISER. 15 

